Hinc Illae Lacrimae / Lourdes - Homage for Joseph Beuys

I made this installation at the invitation of the Marnie Fleming, then Curator of Contemporary Art at Museum London, Canada. This work was included as part of her inaugural curatorial exhibition, titled "Encounters & Inquiries" 1986-87.

This installation comprises several motifs.
The central theme of this work is a series of objects relating to the religious shrine of Lourdes in France. This was where, in a cave, young Bernadette Soubirous saw a vision of the Virgin Mary - for which this religious site gets its name “Our Lady of Lourdes”. Since that time “sic” or “disabled” pilgrims have visited Lourdes in the millions. Many claim to have been miraculously healed, leaving their ambulatory aids or other medical devices behind, stuck to the wall as proof. It is one of the top pilgrimage sites for Roman Catholics in the world.

My installation attempts to duplicate the shrine at Lourdes.
In the middle of this installation you can see two beautiful satin lined boxes. One contains a plastic “Mary Bottle” souvenir from Lourdes. You can purchase these bottles filled with holy water taken from the stream inside the grotto at Lourdes. To release the water one must remove the plastic crown-cap on the Mary figurine. Next to it is a painted blue crutch with its terminals painted red as if it had received the miracle of stigmata (the wounds of Christ). Leaning against the wall is a complete or "healthy" crutch next to a very large photo of the actual shrine at Lourdes. The photo shows pilgrims sitting in front of the fence, in front of the grotto and was photographed at the advent of the modern film camera.

Surrounding the (inner) boxes of Mary and the stigmata crutch, is a series of sculptural components made up of prefabricated wooden crutches. Each of these forms reflects on the work of various modernist artists or architecture. For example, the circular piece is after Le Corbusier's "La Musee Mondial", while the rectangular sculpture is after Piet Mondriaan's painting "Broadway Boogie - Woogie." These sculptures simulate the fence as seen in the early photo: on the wall: made of crutches, they are like the walls surrounding the grotto which is several feet thick and hundreds wide in the crutches left behind by these pilgrims healed there.

Additionally, the installation was lit in blue light. Blue is the colour which has come to represent Mary. In years gone by, before modern pigments arrived at the colour ultramarine, blue was achieved in its earliest form by grinding the semiprecious mineral 'lapis lazuli'. As this mineral was prohibitively expensive to most artists, it was used in only the most special of cases: such as decorating or depicting the Virgin Mary. Since, blue has become the colour of Mary's garments etc. The above images show the blue light which engulfs the entire installation.

I don't want to spend time commenting on what my intent was in making this work as I hope it will speak for itself. I will say that it is a dedication or Homage to Joseph Beuys who argued against the “critical historical method” or “Cartesian method” of thinking developed in the enlightenment by Rene Descartes. Like Jacques Rousseau, Beuys argued that 'the scientific method' as it is also known, is inadequate in defining all of reality - the spiritual realm also has to be considered.

“To make people free is the aim of art, therefore art for me is the science of freedom.” Joseph Beuys

I would also like to point out these events which occurred during the time and led up to my creating this installation. Firstly, Joseph Beuys, whom I had met on several occasions, had just died several months before. My loving and now decease grandfather, Emanuel Bouwels, had just been diagnosed with cancer and was planning to visit Lourdes on a pilgrimage of his own (which he completed). My grandmother was coming to visit my family and would be present during the exhibition of this work. I had just returned to my earlier work of the seventies, after painting landscapes, and was in the thick of starting my production of Red - Blue Works.

I dedicated this work to the memory of Joseph Beuys. I also dedicate it to all those who search for more meaning than the answers science can give alone!

Gerard Pas